Money Talks

We cover these and a whole lot more in our Buzzword Bingo course, but here are a few financial terms you’ll typically come across when working with pitch decks.

Cash in the Bank

How much capital does the company currently have instant access to. This includes money left over from a previous investment round and any money from sales that hasn’t been spent yet. It’s displayed as a sum total:

Cash in the Bank = £45,000

Burn Rate

Used to describe how quickly a company is spending the capital it already has in the company. It’s often calculate per month so you’d expect to see something like:

Burn Rate = £5,000 per month

Runway

How long until the company runs out of money? For this simple calculation, you’ll need to know how much cash the company already has (Cash in the Bank) and how quickly they’re spending it (Burn Rate). Runway is then usually displayed in number of months.

Cash in the Bank ÷ Burn Rate (per month) = Runway (in months)

So if we take the figures from our previous examples…

£45,000 ÷ £5,000 = 9 months

Alternatively (and more likely in a pitch deck scenario), the company will display the projected runway based on the investment amount it is raising and the planned spending:

Cash in the Bank + Capital Raising ÷ Projected Burn Rate of Plan (per month) = Projected Runway (in months)

£45,000 + £250,000 ÷ £15,000 = 19-20 months

So, let’s see if you understand all that…